Catch me if you Can
by 17daysgreys
Summary: When Jackson comes back from Tulane he expects April Kepner to be waiting for him, but she's not willing to be chased. She wants to be caught. AU season 9, no plane crash, features Meredith, Cristina, Alex, April, Mark, Lexie, Jackson, and others.
1. Chapter 1

Jackson Avery had just landed in Seattle, it was good to be back in a place where the most common phrase in everyone's vernacular wasn't _ya'll_. He had enjoyed working under Dr. Matthews, she was a brilliant plastic surgeon after all, but he couldn't pass up the opportunity to work on Mark's clinical trial with him. It had been five months since he left Seattle and so, four months since he had seen his best friend April Kepner. He didn't tell her he was moving back, well because she and him weren't talking. They hadn't left things on the best of terms; actually he left without really explaining his true feelings for her, but now he didn't even know if she would look at him. His mind was racing as he stepped into the halls of Seattle Grace Mercy West ready to start his first day as an attending surgeon there.

"Did you hear Avery's coming back?" Meredith asked the other surgeons as they were all changing into their scrubs in the attending's lounge.

"Hmm, that's nice," April, said sheepishly. She had worn an oversized sweater into work that morning and her red hair was put up in a high ponytail with its ends curled.

"What's with the tone Kepner, you mad at Avery for leaving?" Cristina quipped.

"No. I'm not mad. He and I just don't talk anymore, okay? I don't want to get into it." She frustratingly went to the bathroom to change into her scrubs.

"Jesus, what's gotten into her? Perky April Kepner has been replaced with doom and thunder." Cristina said as she took a sip of her coffee. The cardio-goddess, as she liked to have her interns refer to her as, was completely puzzled by April's behavior.

"I think she's just nervous. It has been a while since she's seen him, and I know things did not end well." Meredith tried to be quiet so April couldn't hear them.

"Dish Mer."

"What now?" Dr. Alex Karev, pediatric surgeon, walked in on his best friends from intern year gossiping about who knows what, per usual. He wished he didn't care, but sometimes learning about hospital gossip was his only form of entertainment so he was intrigued.

"Nothing, it's just that Avery's back," Cristina responded, "Okay now tell me the good stuff." But before Meredith could, April came out of the bathroom, grabbed her lab coat, and left to go to the pit.

Jackson Avery found the attending's lounge fairly easily and he also found his old friends, Cristina, Alex, and Meredith sitting in there and talking.

"Morning guys," he opened the door and around turned Cristina who gave him the most puzzling look.

"You slept with Kepner!" All three of him were looking at him with death glares, he felt as if they had seen him naked.

"Great first day to be back," he mumbled to himself.

"Good luck with them," Alex tried to encourage him as he left the lounge to go find his patient who had gone rogue on a nurse up on the peds floor.

"Don't you dare think about leaving, Jackson Avery," Meredith threatened, "Your ass, at this table, now." Jackson didn't have a choice in this matter, so he reluctantly sat down. Thankfully he didn't have anything scheduled until the afternoon, he had only gotten here early to find April so she and him could talk.

"It's not what you two think."

"You defiled a virgin." Meredith smacked him upside the head.

"This explains everything, this explains why Kepner has been so moody and mopey. It's because of you," Cristina added.

"I didn't mean to hurt her. I just didn't know where my head was, so I had to take some time to figure myself out."

"God, Jackson you are such an ass. She was a virgin, you defile her, and then you leave her. Do not go anywhere near her, you need to leave her alone." Meredith was getting angry, she was the one who had to help April pull herself together after Jackson left. At the time, she thought April was sad about losing her best friend, not someone she had fallen in love with and had her maiden voyage with.

"She's a grown woman, I'll talk to her if I damn well please. And I'm done with this conversation."

"We're watching you Avery. You do anything to hurt her and I will have you on a plane back to New Orleans before you can say appendectomy," Meredith warned, but Jackson was already out the door.

"So, you think he's the one," Cristina curiously asked.

"Yes. Yes he is."

Jackson Avery went to the pit where he spotted April Kepner, wearing navy blue scrubs. God she looked so sexy in them, they really made her hair look even redder. He stared at her for a moment, did her boobs get bigger, he thought to himself? He had a blueberry muffin in hand, her favorite, and went to approach her with a small peace offering.

"April," he began.

"What is it Jackson?" she was angrily looking down at her i-pad.

"I brought you a muffin, blueberry, your favorite," he flashed her his winning Avery smile, she wasn't particularly amused, "I thought we could talk."

"Blueberry makes me vomit. And no Jackson, we can't talk right now. I'm running the pit."

"Maybe we could meet at Joe's after work? Please I need to explain myself."

"One, I can't drink. And two, there's nothing to explain. You left. I'm not an idiot Jackson, you don't have to coddle me and spell it out in big letters; you didn't want me. Maybe you thought you could come back here and sweep me off my feet, act like nothing happened, but I am not your sloppy seconds. I am no one's second choice. So take your muffin and go."

"April, please. You're not my second choice, you're my only choice, can't you give me one hour at Joe's?"

"If I give you one hour, will you leave me alone and never talk about us again?"

"I promise."

"Fine, I'll be there at 8."

Lunchtime came around and April had been sitting with Meredith in the cafeteria; who sat down with blueberries on her plate. April ran up to go puke, right as Jackson was walking into the cafeteria. Why on earth had she suddenly developed this sensitivity to blueberries? Before he could go see if she was all right his pager beeped with a 911 from Mark Sloan.

"So April, how was it seeing Jackson?" Meredith asked.

"Fine. We're getting drinks tonight at Joe's. I don't even know why I agreed, I am just so angry with him right now."

"Are you going to tell him?"

"Tell him what, Meredith?"

"He's going to figure it out on his own, April."

"I honestly do not care if he does. He left me. He gets no choice in this matter."

"April, get over yourself. You didn't even know then. He was just taking a fellowship in New Orleans, he wasn't trying to run away from you."

"Meredith, I haven't told you this. But he and I had sex, so yeah he was kinda running away from me."

"April, I figured that out. I mean who else's baby would you be carrying?"

"I'm not pregnant."

"Says the woman who hasn't had a drink in four months, whose boobs have doubled in size, who's gone up a size in scrubs, and who gets nauseous at the sight of a blueberry. Kepner, everyone knows. I'm honestly surprised Jackson hasn't figured it out for himself. You need to tell him."

"I will when I'm ready. He just got here, today. I wasn't expecting this, I hadn't planed for this."

"Where you ever going to tell him?"

"I honestly don't know."

April walked into Joe's, much to Jackson's delight. He noticed the baggy sweater she was wearing, but didn't think much of it. He was just glad that she had decided to come.

"Hey, I already ordered two beers, I hope that's okay."

"Thanks Jackson, but I already told you I couldn't drink."

"You can't have one beer? Need to be sober for this conversation?"

"Yes, yes I do. Okay fifty-nine minutes left, try to convince me why I shouldn't hate you." Jackson was not used to April being this angry, he finally realized how much he hurt her.

"April, I'm sorry. I don't know how many times I can say it to you. But I truly am sorry. I'm going to do everything I can to make it up to you, I want our friendship back. Honestly, I want more than that, but if you're not willing to even look at me when I'm talking I'm assuming you're not interested in that."

"Jackson, of course I was. I wanted to date you, I wanted the whole damn thing, picture perfect story we could tell our kids about how we fell in love with our best friend. But you left me, when I told you I love you. You left without saying a word, no phone call, I had to find out from Mark that you went to Tulane. And when you were there you didn't contact me once. How is that supposed to make me feel?"

"I tried to call you, I really did. But I needed some time alone to think."

"Think about what?"

"About you, April. About you. Do you not understand how much I wanted to say I love you back, because I did love you, I do love you. But every relationship I have has gone wrong, I didn't want to lose my best friend if things didn't work out between us and I panicked. Okay? I got scared, I ran away."

"Jackson, only chase me if you're willing to catch me." She placed a few dollars on the table for the beer he had bought her and left.

A month had passed and April Kepner was now five months pregnant and showing to anyone with half a brain in her scrub top. She was now wearing maternity jeans and tried desperately to hide her growing stomach from Jackson. She had been firm in not wanting to get back together with him, but she needed to be professional at work. He had tried to get in her good graces, and she applauded him for his effort, but she wasn't ready to open her heart up. Not yet.

"Good morning Dr. Kepner, brought you a coffee." Jackson said.

"I thought you weren't supposed to have caffeine," Cristina mentioned as she took a bite out of her blueberry muffin.

"Crap, I'm going to be sick!" April ran away from the nurses' station to find a bedpan to puke in.

"No caffeine, no drinking, getting sick at the smell of blueberries, strange." Jackson thought to himself, "Oh my God she's pregnant." His voice trembled on the last word.

"Ding, ding, ding, daddy." Cristina teased.

"Oh my God. No wonder she's so pissed at me."

"You know, I'd love to hear you realize why you're such an ass, but I have a surgical career to get to. Good luck with Kepner."

April had found a bedpan in a supply closet and proceeded to puke her brains out, aside from blueberries making her puke the rest of her pregnancy had gone smoothly. She tucked her hair behind her ears, popped a piece of gum in her mouth, and left the supply closet to head to the pit when she heard Jackson call her name.

"April! April, get back here I need to talk to you." But April literally ran, but Jackson ran faster and caught the red head by the shoulders.

"You said I needed to be willing to catch you." If she hadn't been so angry at him, this would have been a picture perfect moment for them to kiss and make up, just add some rain and Gavin DeGraw and you got yourself a good old fashion teen drama moment.

"What is it Jackson, I have a patient?"

"Why'd you throw up this morning?"

"Cristina was eating blueberries."

"Yeah, but this is the third time I've seen you get sick over blueberries. And you refused to get a drink at Joe's. Plus you're not drinking coffee anymore. And," his eyes panned down to her stomach, "It's a little hard not to notice that."

"So, you know."

"I know. How far along are you?"

"It doesn't matter Jackson. You didn't want me, what makes me think you'll want our baby."

"Stop, April. I want you. I want our baby. Can you just listen to me? I'm telling you I want you. April, I can't breathe, I can't sleep, I can't eat. I am so head over heels in love with you that's it's driving me mad."

"22 weeks."

"You could have told me."

"And you could have chosen to stay. But we can't make different choices now. I have an OB appointment later today if you want to come," the layers of Kepner's angry onion were finally being peeled back.

"I wouldn't miss it for the world."


	2. Chapter 2

April sat in the OBGYN exam room at Seattle Grace Mercy West hospital for about ten minutes, staring at pictures of babies on the wall. These were the success stories and April knew that they would soon be hers. She looked down at her belly and smiled, her little nugget was kicking her side, but she couldn't have been bothered by it. Although she felt angry and betrayed by Jackson, she felt pure joy when she thought about her baby. Her baby. Not his, not yet, she couldn't do it yet.

"April?" Jackson knocked on the door softly.

"You can come in, I'm not going to bite you," she responded jokingly.

"How are you?" He asked awkwardly, trying to relieve the tension that was filling the room.

"It's been an hour since I've seen you, I'm fine. Thank you, though."

"You know that's not what I mean. How are you?" He accentuated the are.

"Afternoon April, ready to look at your little nugget?" Arizona asked her. She had been doing a fellowship in fetal surgery and as April's friend, offered to do her ultra sound. "Oh, Jackson, I didn't realize you'd be here. I'm sorry, should I come back?"

"No, you're fine. I have a surgery scheduled soon, so no need to wait." April responded. She lifted up her scrub top and Jackson saw her clearly extended abdomen, it was much bigger than he had anticipated. He was a surgeon, so he knew what a pregnant woman looked like, but seeing it up close and on April Kepner of all people, he was taken aback.

Arizona put the ultra sound on April's abdomen and searched around, "Do we want to know the sex?" April and Jackson made eye contact, but before they could tell each other what they wanted a knock came at the door. A tall, at least 6'4" man in blue scrubs came into the room, he had short blonde hair and his facial hair was short and scruffy.

"Did I miss it babe? My hip replacement ran a little long." He asked, as he came into the room and kissed April on the lips. Jackson didn't faze him at all, but he fazed Jackson. Who was he? Why was he kissing April? Did he know it wasn't his baby?

"No, Ollie, you didn't. We were just going to find out, right Jackson?" She gave him a look, sort of like the one she used to give him when they were residents at Mercy West. He used to know exactly what she was thinking without having to hear her speak; he used to know her, now they were strangers having a baby.

"Yeah, we can find out," he chocked out.

"Great," Arizona perkily said, trying to keep the tension in the room down. "And here are the legs and if your nugget would just uncross their legs, I'd be able to tell. And it looks like you're having a baby girl."

"A girl? Really? I'm having a girl?" April couldn't help but smile.

"We're having a girl, babe?" Ollie leaned in a kissed her again. All Jackson could hear was that they were having a baby, no one even looked at him. No one congratulated him. No one noticed when he walked out of the room, because even though this was his daughter, he was the father, April was making sure he would never be her dad.

He walked around the hospital and tried to clear his head, but he couldn't take it, he finally snapped and went into a supply closet and cried. He didn't cry about much in his life, he cried after the plane crash, he cried when his dad left him and his mom, and now. He wanted to go back, tell April how he felt, he wanted so badly to turn back the clock and not be a coward. He was crouched down on the floor, now, with his bald head leaned against the wall, eyes closed, submerged in thought.

"Avery?" Alex Karev asked.

"Go away Karev, I'm not in the mood."

"Alex, what's going on, you're supposed to go and watch Zola tonight," Meredith from down the hall, "Derek and I have a thing, what's so interesting in the supply closet?"

"It's Avery," Alex responded.

"Please make her go away, please can you two not be here right now. I need to be alone."

Meredith Grey had made her way down the hall and was now at the doorframe standing next to Alex, she had a nice black dress on; clearly she was ready for date night with Derek, who had just been cleared for surgery by Callie last week.

"Alex, move, I got this," she said, "Go get Zola, and you and Jo can have a movie night with her. We'll only be a few hours and I'll pick her up around 10."

"No problem, Mer. But you owe me."

"Don't I always? Now go! She's been looking forward to this all day!"

"Sure Meredith." He sarcastically quipped as he headed up towards the daycare center. Meredith then sat down next to Jackson, and put her hand on his knee. She wasn't always one for physical contact, but sometimes it was exactly what the other person needed. She could tell Jackson needed to not be left in the dark, she didn't hate him like April did right now. She was he, she had daddy issues and mommy issues, and she knew what his childhood was like. She knew how it felt to have to live up to your parent's success, to never have your own identity. And she knew how it felt to be in love with Derek, and what it felt like to lose him. And that was a pain, she didn't wish on anyone.

"Jackson, are you okay?"

"No, I'm not Meredith. Please just go."

"I can't do that. Jackson, you're my friend, April's my friend. I just want you two to be happy. You're having a baby, you should be excited, not sitting in a supply closet sitting on the floor and crying. So please, tell me what happened?"

"Did you know," he looked up at her and looked deep into her eyes, his were screaming with pain, "Did you know she was with someone else?"

"I knew she was dating, but no, I didn't know about anything serious. But so, what Jackson, you left did you expect her to wait around for you?"

"No, of course not. But do you know how it felt to be in that room, I was so excited to be there and see the baby, that I've known about for four hours, I was on cloud nine the entire morning and then Dr. Johnson walked in and kissed her. And when Arizona told us the baby was a girl, April didn't even look at me. She looked at him. She kissed him. She went to him. It's their baby, I'm just the father, and I don't even know if I'll be allowed to be that."

"Jackson," Meredith said in a whisper, she pulled him into a hug and he cried. She held him for an hour, in silence.

"It's okay Meredith, you can go, Derek's waiting. I'll be fine."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, I'm sure." The two of them left the supply closet and as they did, Jackson saw Dr. Johnson at the nurse's station. He desperately wanted to go up to him and punch him, but he couldn't do that. He did nothing wrong, April was single, he probably had no idea about Jackson's feelings for her, but before he could walk away Oliver called out for him.

"Dr. Avery! Dr. Avery, I don't think we've formally met," he came up to Jackson and extended his hand, "I'm Oliver Johnson, ortho fellow, and I'm sorry for earlier. I should have introduced myself then, but I was so caught up with my surgery and being late, and well of course the news." He was so peppy and cheery, just like the April Jackson used to know; he was her in male form.

"It's no problem really, but I'd rather not discuss my personal business at work." Jackson was angry, but he was trying to keep his cool.

"What do you mean? Did you not know, did you not know about April and me?"

"Does it look like I knew?"

"Jackson, I'm really sorry. I wouldn't have barged in like that if I had known. It was never my intention to make you feel uncomfortable. April and I have just been talking about the sex for weeks and we were really excited about finding out," he was rambling.

"Please stop."

"Stop?"

"Stop, talking about her like she's your daughter, she's my daughter. That's my baby. Or did April not tell you that?"

"No, I knew that you were the father, April told me as soon as she found out."

"Great, so you were there for that too. How long have you been there?"

"We met, when she was crying at the coffee cart, she was talking about how a friend had left, and we got to talking and have been pretty inseparable since then. I know that this is weird for you; it's weird for me too. I didn't think my girlfriend would be pregnant by another man and that I'd be working at the same hospital as him. I didn't know you were the guy until today, she never mentioned your name, I'm sorry. I can't take it back, I can't make her forgive you, and all I can do is be there for her and her little girl. That's all I want to do, and I think that's all you want to do. I'm not a bad guy, and I don't think you are either."

"I'm not."

"Why don't you come over for dinner tonight, and the three of us can discuss this. We really should all talk."

"No."

"No?"

"I mean no. I need to talk to April, alone." And with that, Jackson walked away from a slightly stunned Oliver. He got into his car and drove to April's place, knocked on the door, and waited; he would wait there all night if that were what it took. He needed to see her, he needed to talk to her, and he needed to know why.

"Jackson, what are you doing here?"

"Why? Are you trying to hurt me? You're with someone else and you completely failed to mention that in the weeks that I've been back," he was yelling now, "You've been seeing him since I left, since the day I left. You're living with him, my daughter is his daughter, and he's been there for everything. Would you have just convinced him it was his and never told me? Because say the word, if you don't want me in your life or our baby's life, and you want Oliver to be her father, I'm done. I'm gone. I will leave Seattle tonight. Your choice."

"Go." And she shut the door in his face.


End file.
